Nathan Henry Friday, May 08, 2009 PHIL 101

The Dangers of Modernity

During the eighteenth century, humanity passed into what some call an age of enlightenment where reason becomes a much more powerful authority in society. With this, technology and the separation of church from state is brought forward. Heidegger predicts that this rise in technology will affect humanity in a seriously negative way. He predicts, very persuasively, that this age of enlightenment will affect the way people think and their relation with the world. He believes that humanity is becoming robotized. Our days are becoming very repetitious and assiduous causing us to live life without true meaning. Heidegger predicts a critical point where people will begin to treat themselves as resources to economize, this is calls the greatest danger. Heidegger believes that what really affects humanity and the way we function is our fundamental understanding of what it is to exist in this world. Many previous philosophers have radically modified our understanding of being. Kant took a very skeptic approach and stated that all we can truly be sure of is that we have thought. Kant said that the world is experienced through a projection and categorization of the mind. This organization and filtration of sensory data from the world is said by Kant to produce our intelligibility. This is fundamentally saying that there is no absolute, un-dissolvable truth that is not saturated with human influence other than our thought alone. Heidegger criticizes this by saying that Kant misses the fundamental experience of our mentality or being; what is outside of ones conception of oneself. One

example of this is our mood, or the biases that influence our interpretation of the world. One who is completely overwhelmed and stressed can miss the simple pleasures in life that can be truly meaningful. The world around us is completely influential on us and our conception of it. As we grow from childhood we learn how to care for ourselves, we are influenced by those we hold in high regards. Even our basic sense of our existence is shaped by the world around us. This is the rootedness of humanity. This rootedness means the source from which all human actions and perceptions come from. Nietzsche radically shifted our perception of ourselves. Heidegger holds, and persuasively predicts, Nietzsches affect on humanity to this day. A Darwinian approach was taken by Nietzsche who said that throughout history, humanity has strived for power. This is similar to Darwins evolution theory in that those that are best equipped survive to continue their legacy. This legacy is embedded with their strengths to be further built upon by the next generation. This is a basic factor for humanitys endeavor in the advancement of technology and power; almost as if to survive with as much comfort with the maximum amount of efficiency. Nietzsche says that humanity ever strives to surpass itself. This theory is labeled will to power, and is one major component of Heideggers critique on humanities conception of being. Another concept that Heidegger believes to have formed the lenses through which we view this world is eternal recurrence, which greatly intrigued Nietzsche. Eternal recurrence is the idea that the universe is eternally repeating itself. This eternally recurring will to power produces a very nihilistic approach on life. If the universe is nothing but continuous forces that have no goal but to advance in history and there is an eternal recurrence of this struggle, then what is the meaning in perpetuating these forces? Heidegger believes that humanitys use of a never ceasing, ever

repeating, will to surpass itself shapes the lenses in which we view our world; this he labels as enframing. This enframed interpretation of our world leads to what Heidegger calls thoughtlessness. He holds that it is running rampant in society. This thoughtlessness can be considered a lack of meaningful thought, or meditative thought as will be described later. Heidegger still holds to humanitys potential of meaningful thought however. To be considered poor, one must have the possibility of being rich. How could it be possible to be thoughtless without the potential for thought? He relates it to fertile land that is yet to be irrigated and seeded. Where humanities potential for thought is the land and to irrigate and seed this land, one must stray from an enframed mentality. Heidegger clearly shows his beliefs about the affects of technology when he says on page 45 of Discourse on Thinking, An expressway, where nothing grows, cannot be a fallow field. This illustrates that technology is paving over our potential for meaningful thought. Heidegger states, further down the page, that man at the core of his being has the capacity to think; has spirit and reason and is destined to think. He states that thoughtlessness is the lack of acknowledgement of this core of humanity. Mankind has the potential of meaningful thought yet instead we work a nine to five, come home and let the television do our thinking for us. We are letting who we are be defined by what we do. In modern culture, humanity is quickly transforming into a monster consumer. We view everything as resources to utilize in the most efficient way only to put it aside and forget it when it no longer seems useful. Ironically, Heidegger connects this thoughtlessness two one of his two forms of thought, calculative thinking. An argument that Heidegger recognizes is that this is considered an age of enlightenment, where science and reason have become very prominent. On page 46 of Discourse on Thinking, Heidegger acknowledges that this display of ingenuity and deliberation has its own

great usefulness. Such thought remains indispensable. The word usefulness encompasses what Heidegger is getting to with calculative thought. Humanity gathers, analyzes and utilizes everything in the most efficient way and we take it in with the intent of them serving their particular usefulness. The act of this calculative thought remaining indispensable is a good example of eternal recurrence. Calculative thinking is endlessly creating new possibilities of economic efficiency, without ever contemplating the meaning behind its usefulness, or the grounds from which it grows. This contemplation of background forces, outside of our conception, that are the foundations from which we operate is called meditative thinking. Meditative thinking is quite the extreme opposite from calculative thinking. Rather than rushing through life, only perceiving that which is immediately apparent; Heidegger describes meditative thought as dwelling in life, stopping to smell the roses if you will. He says that reality elicits and defies conceptualization and to properly dwell in this world one must be open and receptive to this excessiveness of reality. One good example of this is one can receives the sound waves of someone talking to them but that doesnt mean that he or she is truly hearing what that person is saying. Consider wood being cut down to make furniture; the difference in these types of thought is like the difference of a woodworker hand carving a beautiful door out of a slab of wood and the wood being shredded and compressed into particle board to be utilized efficiently and cheaply. The woodworker preserves the grain of the wood and stylizes the door to match; each hand made door would be unique. All this care that the woodworker puts into the door puts meaning into it as opposed to a severely processed, uniform door. Unfortunately this process is also happening with our education system. Students are being modeled by the cookie cutter of government standards, they are expected to efficiently absorb and regurgitate information. This leads to a lack of meaning in education. Rather than pay attention in class to learn and expand

ones horizons, we pay attention so that we can get good grades, which will lead to a good job expanding our money and comfort. Heidegger addresses what it means for something to be truly meaningful. First it must be grounded in the rootedness of humanity. This relates to the influence that our rootedness, as described earlier, has on us. In relation to great works of art, Heidegger says on page 47 of Discourse on Thinking, does not the flourishing of any genuine work depend upon its roots in a native soil. Heidegger believes this rootedness to be threatened by technology. Rather than growing up conventions and customs of your family, we are becoming disconnected from any uniqueness and are homogenized by the television, magazine articles and advertisements. Heidegger describes something truly meaningful as something that starts from this autochthony and ascends to the ether. It is created from more than just ones narrow or enframed interpretation as it is influenced by many factors. It becomes something that cannot be fully perceived. This creation is affected by factors independent from our thoughts such as conventions, customs and traditions. Heidegger believes an exercise in meditative thinking will help to solve this enframer issue. Rather than striving for a fake, optimized, and nihilistic life, one strives for a truly meaningful or meditative life. Rather, an openness to other ways reality shows itself that is denser in meaning than what is first revealed is what is truly meaningful. Humanity, as Heidegger sees it, is on a downward spiral. He believes that the lenses through which we interpret the world a formed from our understanding of being. Humanities concept of what it is to be alive in this universe, eternally recurring will to power, is the force behind this downward spiral. As a result of our need to unceasingly and repetitiously surpass ourselves, humanity has begun to lose its concept of true meaning. We begin to look at the world as commodities to perpetually be harvested and depleted only to be cast away without a second

thought. At the bottom of the previously mentioned spiral, Heidegger anticipates what he calls the greatest danger, humanity objectifying itself. He fears that we will treat ourselves as objects to utilize and advance. This utilization can be interpreted as stem cell research, where we act somewhat god-like and use genetics to either create life or modify it. As signified in plastic surgery, many people are already trying to advance or upgrade themselves. Following what has been the trend of the enframer, what is humanity to do after it sucks itself dry but to cast itself away. References Heidegger, Martin. Discourse on Thinking. New York: Harper & Row, 1966. Thomson, Iain D. Heidegger on Ontotheology. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.